Every day you are bombarded daily
with commercial messages and beauty tips that attempt to lure you into
believing that the most recent miracle drug is just what you need to fight off
the ravages of Mother Nature.
We are living longer as a whole.
Singularly, that can be a curse or a blessing, depending on your perspective.
The best route to natural beauty
and healthy skin is to take care of what you have. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
The truth is that your skin takes a beating from the environment every single
day. Here are some of our favorite beauty tips for keeping your skin fresh and
healthy:
Beauty Tips #1: Stay hydrated and
do it with plenty of water!
That does not mean soda, caffeine or any other type
of liquid, even if it is low cal. Soda (even diet soda) has a high
concentration of sodium. Sodium retains fluids. You need fluid that will
hydrate and flush your body free of toxins. Make sure you are drinking at least
8 glasses a day!
Beauty Tips #2: Protect your skin
from harmful ultra violet (UV) rays.
We all love the sun. We love being in it
and we love having a beautiful tan. The truth is you can poison yourself with
too much sunshine. UV rays cause skin cancer and if that isn’t bad enough it
causes your skin to age faster than it should, contributing to unsightly
wrinkles. If you must play in the sun, make certain you are using an adequate
sun screen. Don’t leave home without it!
Beauty Tips #3: Keep your skin
clean.
Use a soft warm cloth. Skin does not require scrubbing. You will do more
harm than good if you do.
Beauty Tips #4: The best cure for
wrinkles is to never have them in the first place! If you are like most of us,
you didn’t listen to your Mom when she tried to tell you to stay in the shade,
stand up straight and stop squinting!
Beauty Tips #5: Eat healthy.
Knowing how and what to eat, can make a huge difference in how you feel.
Improper eating habits can cause depression, weight gain, illness and an
overall lethargy. Weight gain causes your skin to
stretch. As you get older, it loses it's elasticity and you're left with
sagging skin.
The best solution to this is to
maintain a proper weight.
A rule of thumb for eating habits
are...don't eat more calories than you consume. Don't go one single day without
doing something extra and physical for at least 30 minutes per day. This can be
three ten minute walks. Or 30 minutes of vigorous aerobics, or 12 minutes of
weight lifting and 18 minutes of walking.
Beauty Tips #6: Don't worry, be
happy.
A happy outlook appears to trigger the release of endorphins. Endorphins
relax the cardiovascular system and cytokines which alert the immune system to
pay attention in detecting abnormalities like cancer cells. Listen carefully to
yourself. If you have put yourself down since childhood, over a lifetime,
negative subliminal messages can take their toll by turning you into a
pessimist. Spend one week writing down the phrases you use in your “self talk.”
Chances are you will find that you repeat a dozen or so phrases over and over
again that reinforce that negative image. If you know about them, you can
change them. Outer beauty and inner joy go hand in hand.
Here are a few quick tips for
increasing joy, hope and optimism that will work no matter what your age:
- Make a list of at least 50 great things that happen to you every day.
- Laugh a lot. You’ll heal your body and your mind.
- Discover a new challenge each month.
- Try meditating for just five minutes each day.
Beauty Tips #7: Sex After 50 –
Ha! How many of you jumped ahead to this section?
The importance of physical
intimacy actually depends on the couple. An alarming number of men used to give
up on sex after 60 and many women used to feel that their sex life ended with
menopause. Thankfully, that is no longer the case.
Sex at middle age can actually
become better and more satisfying than ever before. Maturity gives a couple
more experience in lovemaking. The children are usually grown and left home.
The pressures of building a career and day to day life are usually less
stressful than in younger years.
The answer is yes and no. It’s a paradox, isn’t it? True beauty begins
from the inside out. Don’t you wish there was some way to “wriggle your nose”
and regain that soft skin you had as a child? Well, until someone comes up with
the true “Fountain of Youth” we are stuck with what we have.
Just remember that getting older
doesn't have to mean getting old.
